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new guy

Hello to all here, sorry if this the wrong section but im a car guy and also new to this site as you can see. So my name is Eric and just stumbled on this site today and am looking forward to spending more time here, hope this works!

new guy

Thanks for the welcome, as for my screen name well here it goes. My collector car is an 87 buick grand national in excellent condition(TURBO charged v-6) and at one time I had an 05 Ford Superduty (TURBO charged 6.0 power stroke) and also at one time we had a cat and his name was well you guessed it "Turbo" Does this help clear up the screen name LOL Cant wait to spend some more time here will be posting in near future, Eric

Again welcome.... our stable has a few as well... 7.3T powerstroke and Audi Allroad 2.7TT.... but I babysit all kinds of exhaust turbine pressurized stuff... and vintage gofast stuff.... lucky for me I helped build and field a lot of it in the 70s.... now they call them vintage racers... who-da-thunkit...a vintage fabricator...

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*******************************************
The more you know, The better you know, How little you know

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten”

Buy the best tools you can afford.. Learn to use them to the best of your ability.. and take care of them...

new guy

Sounds like we have the same ideas when it comes to horsepower,I like that I myself was a big block chevy guy for years, and dont get me wrong I still love the sound of a cammed up b-block however when my buick builds boost and you get that sweet sounding whistle that sounds like a 747 well, that is also a beautiful thing!

Now as for why im here, im in the market for an ac tig unit for my hobby (and maybe to make a little $$) was looking at the diversion 165 with the foot pedal.I have little experiance in tig however I have self taught myself to mig , stick and braise and have become realy good. I have done a couple of mild steel roll cages in friends race cars, in wich one was a 68 barracuda that ran 9.50et and ended up on its roof( with no weld failures) at rt.66 and that guy was just here at my house last week. I have also done a few 4 link suspension set ups one in a 10.30 et grand national at 132 mph and have not one problem.

As for my stick capabylities I do alot of it at work on tanks, boilers building cat walks and hand rails that people are walking on 80' up in the air all mild steel stuff,lifting eyes to pick something that sort of stuff.

Dont get me wrong im not claiming to be the man at welding because im not, Im just looking to pick up the tig aspect of things to maybe help me in the auto resto. part of things cars are my true passion and to do realy nice work with chrome molley ,aluminum etc... I think most will agree tig is the way to go.

So enough with my babble, for you chassis guys and hobby guys anyone have input on the diversion 165 as an entry level tig machine? I dont think for the most part right now anyway I would be doing more than 1/8" Please keep in mind guys im not made of money I cant afford a $3000 machine to try and take my hobby to the next level. Thanks in advance,Eric

Eric
The Diversion 165 is a good entry level machine and will probably handle about 85percent of your automotive fab... but does not give you much room to grow.... while it does have AC it will be light on horspower to be doing much work on aluminum castings... here is a link to the owners manual...

you might also want to take some time and read the "Miller Tig Handbook" which goes into the process in much more detail and should help you compare your needs to the capabilities of the various machines... it is a free PDF download..

Other things that you might want to consider are used machines, Synchrowave 250's which had been the standard of the industry for the last 25-30 years.... they come on the used market fully equipped with torch, pedal and water cooler in the $1500 range... and while not inverter based and being large/heavy and requiring more input amps... they are a heck of a machine for the money....
Used inverter based machines ..... with the introduction of new models, most notably the Dynasty 280 that should debut pretty soon, expect that to drive down the prices for used Dynasty 200dx's a bit, so they may come down into a range that suits your budget.......
There is a lot to think about and weighing the options on needs, wants and budget is a tough one.... it is your dime... and nobody can tell you how to spend it... but if you are not in a hurry, you might spend some time searching ebay listings and CL listings with Search tempest, just to get a better idea of what is available whithin, oh maybe 100 miles of your house....

new guy

I agree with what your saying, I was looking at money mainley and just to get my foot in the door to tig welding. I would have no problem buying used and getting something that would go a little thicker im looking to buy something probably mid jan. so if ya know anyone that may have something that fits the description im interested. Is there a for sale section on this site? I have been looking at used stuff thats actualy how I found this site. Is there an exact way to see how many hrs have been put on a machine? Eric

Eric
there is no for sale section here...your best bet is watching CL and fleabay for stuff in your area.... Jan till thaw should be a good time to shop for deals... but take your time to educate yourself on what you are looking at... there is a download area for owners manuals in the resources section... worth reading the manual for machines you are interested in.... and studying the tig handbook so you comprehend what a machine can do as opposed to a sellers claims.......
on hours and arc starts.... that stuff is only found on very recent machines like the Dynasty series...... (and some upper end mig like MM350P etc)
what part of the country are you in???

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*******************************************
The more you know, The better you know, How little you know

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten”

Buy the best tools you can afford.. Learn to use them to the best of your ability.. and take care of them...

I live about 45 min. south of chicago in the lovely arm pit of america IL obviousely, pretty much in the country. I see there is a miller 180 sd on CL now for $1400 says to be in good shape and looks it but ya know how that goes.Says to be about 6 yrs old im definitely weighing my options for sure.